How does a research institute lose radioactive material?

The Sunnybrook Research Institute isn't quite sure, but thinks a cabinet containing the radioactive items got moved a few times, eventually ending up in a scrap metal yard, without anyone realizing what was in it.

How did Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre’s research arm lose a cabinet full of radioactive material?

A report sent to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) by the hospital on Thursday reveals that it seems to have mysteriously disappeared during a time of staff turnover and responsibility changes at the Sunnybrook Research Institute almost a year ago.

Though officials aren’t entirely sure what happened to it and are still investigating, the scenario laid out in the report is their best guess. It appears officials lost track of the cabinet when it was moved several times without anyone realizing what was in.

Sunnybrook revealed on Wednesday night that a locked, lead-lined cabinet containing 15 radioactive items may well have been picked up by a scrap metal dealer and sent to a scrap yard.

The radioactive items, which included a radioisotope, were used for research purposes and are including the calibration of X-rays. The radioisotope is harmless if left in its own locked, lead container, said Michael Julius, research vice-president at the institute.

However, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency warns it could cause significant harm if ingested or inhaled.

The institute is located in the S-wing research building at the south end of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences campus; access is restricted. The report reveals the institute started losing track of the cabinet when the scientist in charge of both it and the ground-floor lab it was stored in retired early last year.

A new scientist got responsibility for the cabinet while another researcher began using the lab.

Then a third scientist came onto the scene and was made lab manager. He was unaware there was radioactive material in the room, even though there was a sign was posted near the entrance saying there was a permit allowing for its use.

Julius pointed out that there was also a radiation warning sign on the cabinet and on the door to the lab.

A maintenance worker cleared out the lab in June or July last year to prepare it for a new team of researchers. “While we do not know for sure, after some prompting, the (maintenance worker) most likely involved stated that he remembers the cabinet being transported to the 3rd floor of S-wing,” the report states.

The maintenance worker said he would have placed any radioactive material in a radioactive waste storage room, but the hospital’s assistant radiation safety officer does not recall disposing of any waste from that room.

“(The maintenance worker) thought it likely that the cabinet itself would have been sent out as scrap metal, but could not remember for sure,” the report reads.

“(We) contacted the person who may have picked up the scrap metal (but) he does not keep records of pickup dates or locations,” it continues, adding that two GTA scrap metal yards where it may have ended up also know nothing about it.

The report ends by noting the institute has drafted a new radiation storage policy. “I really do want to underscore . . . that our processes currently in place meet all of the requirements of the safety commission and what we are looking at now is actually putting processes in place which will exceed their requirements,” Julius said.

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